Boredom, Pranks and a stolen Lute
by Aaymeirah
Summary: The one time Alyn didn't do something, he gets blamed. Sent home from Haven, a snowstorm forces him to spend a day of boredom in a backwater inn with his guards. When a Bard arrives with no instrument, and a tale of bandits, Alyn couldn't resist. From the depths of his mischievous mind, Alyn comes up with a plan. Crazy? Oh yes. But that's what makes life interesting.


It was Levi's fault he was being sent away. But no one would believe him! The one time he was actually telling the truth, and no one believed he wasn't lying! One part of him supposed that it made sense, to all outward appearances, Levi was the perfect child. Obedient, handsome and well suited to a life at court. Only Alyn really knew just what a devil he was in private. He pitied whichever girl would one day end up marrying him. And now, he was being blamed for something he didn't even do, and being sent to his family's country home in disgrace! He'd be lucky if he ever got to enter Haven again.

Physically, Levi looked just like him, albeit a year or two older. But his brother was not like him in temperament at all. He had a vicious streak, and no ethics whatsoever, he was fifteen and determined to claw his way up to the highest social position he could get his hands on. As for Alyn, well, he couldn't care less. When he was younger, and not so smart, he worshiped his older brother. He would do whatever his brother told him to do. No matter how dangerous or unwise it seemed. That was his first introduction to mischief making. By seven, Alyn decided he did not like his brother telling him what to do, or anyone for that matter. And he made it his life's mission to be as unmanageable as possible. That at least got people to pay attention to him, but not the good kind of attention.

"Be more responsible, like your brother." His mother, Lady Yaris Trilldain would say. "Why can't you get good marks like Levi?" Said his tutors. "Your brother was a natural with the sword, so I don't see why you can't be." Said their weaponmaster. He hated being compared to his older brother, and instead of spurring him on to try harder at things he just couldn't see the point of, that just made him all the more determined to be as unlike his brother as possible.

Much to his father's annoyance, and Alyn's delight, his Lady Mother made him take Alyn along to Haven each year for Midwinter. She had given up hope of making a good match with him, no family wanted to marry their daughter to a good-for-nothing troublemaker, especially when he wasn't even heir to his family's rich holdings. And she swore she deserved some time where she didn't have to be plagued by his exploits. Alyn quickly grew to hate the court, with their formal dinners, and all those people with their fake smiles. Then his cousin Koln introduced him to a most pleasing pastime. Pranking. Between the two of them. They would pick the most annoying Lords and Ladies they could find, and target them with harmless pranks. It was very satisfying, and they hardly ever got caught.

But this midwinter was different, at fourteen, they had decided that they were proficient enough. They were going to take on the most difficult target of all. His brother, ever so perfect Levi. He had made life hell for them, but they were finally going to give him his comeuppance. They were going to expose him for the sadistic sociopath he was.

The two started off small, weakening seams on his clothing so they split in some embarrassing places, pouring days-old piss into his leather shoes and letting it dry. Hiding some of the ridiculous jewelry he wore, and Alyn's favorite, dying his perfectly coiffed brown hair a rather hideous gray. Of course Levi knew it was them, but they were careful, and they weren't caught. The night before Sovann, was their planned night for Alyn's greatest ever prank. They were going to convince Levi's friends that Levi was crazy. The plan was perfect, a true work of genius, everything was ready, but Levi turned the tables on him. It really didn't help that he was dressed in his oldest, darkest clothes with soot all over his face, halfway out a second-story window when his father entered his room.

"So it's true!" He roared, in a right rage. Alyn's eyes went wide and he frantically tried to get out of the window and onto the ledge. But he was stuck. There was only one way out of this, he had to talk his way out. Very hard when you're dressed like you're going to go sneaking around causing trouble and you don't even know what your father is mad at you for. First try, innocence.

"What's true Lord Trilldain?" He said, hoping that his father didn't recognize him, maybe think he was a thief and it would put him off his guard that a thief knew who he was.

"Don't act all innocent with me Alyn! I know what you've been up to. And to think a son of mine could…"

"Could what?" Alyn tried to get out of the window and succeeded in toppling in a heap into his room, getting soot from his fireplace all over the rug, which at that moment he was becoming intimately acquainted with. Levi entered the door way, he smirked at Alyn then arranged his face in a mask of horror.

"He's dallying with Lord Ren's daughter Elizabeth. I saw Alyn kiss her!" Alyn's jaw dropped. The bastard was pinning something he did on Alyn! It was Alyn who saw Levi and Elizabeth snogging in an alcove in the garden of her parent's manor. How dare he!

"I'm doing no such thing." He said.

"Then why are you dressed like you are? All prepared to go sneaking? To meet with Lady Elizabeth?" Levi pressed. His father's face got redder and redder. Not a good thing, when Lord Father was in a rage, he didn't think clearly. But Alyn had to try.

"There's no way I'd do that! She hates me! Besides, she's like, four years older than me and has no sense of humor whatsoever. If I was really going to a clandestine meeting, why would I go all scuffed up like this? And I don't even want to kiss any of the air-heads here at court!"

"So then what are you going dressed like that?" Levi said thoughtfully. Alyn had no answer there. If he didn't want to tell what he was really doing, and he couldn't, because that would be betraying Koln, and he would never tell on a prank-mate, he was going to have to go with Levi's fabrication to save his own skin.

"Fine, I was going to meet her." Alyn mumbled. His father roared, yes roared, and picked Alyn up from the floor by the front of his shirt. He shook Alyn, hard enough to make his jaw hurt and slapped Alyn across the face. Alyn saw spots. He would have done more to protect himself, but Alyn couldn't see the point. When his father got this mad, there was no stopping him.

"I thought I raised you better than that. And so young too! You've no business becoming involved in things like this." He growled. Levi slinked out of the room, Alyn was so busy glaring at his older brother, that he didn't notice the next slap coming. He lost consciousness.

And that was how his life went to hell. In the morning he was calmly informed by Levi, who sat at the foot of his bed, smiling delightedly, that his father was sending him back to their country estate indefinitely accompanied by four guardsmen. He should have anticipated it. But it still came like a punch to the gut, a sensation he was pretty sure he'd been introduced to last night if the mottled bruises on his abdomen were any way to go by. His head was pounding, he was emotionally drained and all he wanted was to go back to sleep.

"Why, of all the possible things did you have to make up me having a love affair? I mean come on, seriously, couldn't you have picked something interesting?" Alyn tried casual flippancy and it seemed to him that it went off pretty good, but Levi wasn't buying it. He knew just how much Alyn did not want to go back home.

"It fit my plans." Levi shrugged. "And don't even think of revenge. By now the rumor of your 'affair' will be all over the court. No matter the improbability, people love a juicy scandal. And Father will kindly put in a proposition for my betrothal to Elizabeth. No one else would have her now, I've eliminated all her other suitors, I get the girl of my- dreams. And her money, and you my dearest brother are in disgrace and will be sent home with a wonderful future ahead of you. How does joining the guard sound? Or maybe the priesthood, you're unnecessary. Nobody really. A second-born son with no inheritance. And if my plan continues, Mother and Father will soon be eager to have you gone. So how will you ever get back at me? Think on it, okay?" Levi stood up and patted his shoulder, to all appearances being a nice older brother. He then made a graceful, mocking bow and left the room.

Leaving Alyn to wallow in anger and resentment.

But it would be a while before Levi came back to the family holdings, and Alyn's normal mischievousness overpowered his anger.

And his mind come up with a few very interesting possibilities to liven up their meeting the next time he saw him.

So here he was, it was winter, he was cold and in disgrace with the accompaniment of four dour veterans with no sense of humor whatsoever, and a boring remainder of the winter ahead of him! Not for the first time, Alyn wished his father could be less conscientious. Three generations ago they were merchants, his family had made strategic marriages and now here they were. Minor nobility, his father was always nervous about his standing in court. But what could you do?

They were two days away from his family's holdings near the Valdemar-Karse border, Understone manor was not palatial, like some of the grand houses he'd seen in Haven, but it was comfortable. Though the effect was somewhat spoiled by the people who lived there. All right, a lot spoiled, you couldn't really blame him for trying to lighten things up. Well, maybe you could, but to his thinking, Alyn's practical jokes and antics were necessary, not to mention extremely entertaining, even if the punishment that came afterwards was awful.

The inn they had taken rooms in was modest, he had his own room just off a larger one where his guards slept, so there was no way he could leave without someone waking up. What did they think he would do? Try to run away? The thought had crossed his mind, but he quickly discarded it, there was no place to go. He smiled bitterly as he got ready for bed, one of his private rules was that if he was going to fail, he'd do it spectacularly. He'd certainly not broken it these past days.

…..

In the morning he ate his pocket pie cheerily. The idea had come to him just before he drifted off to sleep, there truly was no way he could get back at Levi until he returned to Understone, and anger was terribly draining. So he decided to act as if nothing was wrong, after all, he knew he there was a chance of getting caught in all of his- endeavors, and he had to accept the consequences. On the plus side of this, his new attitude had totally thrown off-balance the guards. They were expecting to deal with a sullen and recalcitrant spoiled brat, and they had obviously drowned their distaste for the task in ale last evening, if their hangdog expressions were anything to go by. But here he was, acting near as perfect as Levi when he wanted something.

The innkeeper, a portly middle aged man approached their table looking worried.

"Milord, I don't mean to presume but…" Alyn assumed an inviting expression.

"Tell us what you have to say." He said with his mouth full. Oops, manners weren't his strong suit.

"My wife's a weather witch, she can tell what the day will be like, and she tells me that all her senses are a-telling her that the mother of all storms will be rolling in in an hour or so. And since my inn is the only inhabited place that'll offer you shelter for quite a ways, it might be a good idea if you stay here, just till the storm passes." Alyn considered this, much as the prospect of going home did not appeal to him, it would be even worse to be trapped here for the foreseeable future.

"I thank you for the warning, my men and I would be happy to stay here to wait out the storm." He said at length. The guards looked relieved, but Alyn was merely resigned. Thus started a day of boredom. He was restless, there was only so many times you could play a board game, only so long you could read a book, the guards accepted their confinement with their usual stoic demeanor, Alyn found himself staring out a window at the howling blizzard, dozing off by the fireplace, just after lunch. Through half lidded eyes, he saw a bright red shape flit through his narrow field of vision. He peered closer, and could barely make out a scarlet-clad humanoid form staggering towards the inn. He shrugged off his lethargy and got up, putting shoes on his feet, he left his room to race down to the common room. No one else had noticed that someone was outside, so everyone looked up at once as a blast of cold air swirled into the common room, accompanied by fast blowing snow and a snow-drenched figure in scarlet.

"Shut the damn door." Grumbled the innkeeper, as he came out from behind the bar he had been methodically wiping down. The Bard looked up balefully at him and stamped snow off of his boots. With the door shut, everyone relaxed, though all eyes remained curiously on the newcomer.

"Well, come by the fire, hurry up, my wife will kill me if I let a guest freeze to death." Continued the innkeeper gesturing to a table by the fireplace.

"Thank you sir." Replied the Bard. He removed his hood and sat down gratefully. Soon, the excitement was over and everyone returned to their busy-work, although Alyn looked furtively in the Bard's direction, curious. When it appeared as if the Bard wouldn't perform, most everyone had lost interest in him as he stared moodily into a mug of hot apple cider. Not Alyn. He had questions.

Why was the Bard here, as the innkeeper said, in the middle of nowhere on foot? During a snowstorm no less! And where was his instrument? Or a travelling pack. Curiosity overcame politeness and Alyn moved to sit across from the Bard.

"My name is Alyn Trilldain." He introduced himself.

"Bard Thomas." Said the Bard curtly. He obviously didn't want to talk. But Alyn did,

"So why're you here in this out of the way inn, with no pack, no instrument, and no horse?" The Bard smiled ruefully.

"They were stolen by some bandits."

"Bandits! In winter!"

"Yes, there's a band of them in this area, new, and the guard hasn't dealt with 'em yet. I was distracted and they jumped me. They seemed pretty desperate. So much for Bardic immunity."

"Do you intend to get your instrument back?"

"Once the storm lets off, I guess I'll have to go to the nearest guard post and hope it's recovered once they go after them. It's only a practice lute, really worth only sentimental value, but not enough to risk my life over."

"Does it mean a lot to you?" His curiosity was piqued.

"My uncle gave it to me when I first entered the Bardic Collegium, just before he died."

"Then you have a better quality lute elsewhere?"

"It's a real masterpiece, I had to have it repaired and I was on my way to collect it."

Alyn thought about what the Bard had just told him.

"If it's not taken care of properly, will it be terribly damaged?"

"Of course! I highly doubt those bandits know the first thing about proper lute care!"

"Then you need to recover it and soon. Who knows how long the guards will take."

"I can't! Didn't I just tell you that boy? I love that lute, but not as much as I love my life." Alyn could see how much it pained the Bard to say such a thing.

"But I can help you!" Alyn said impulsively.

"You? What's a young boy like you to do to help me recover my lute?"

"I've got horses." He told Bard Thomas. The Bard snorted.

"Alright, so I borrow a horse, then I go and attack at least ten armed and desperate men?" He said sarcastically.

"No, you don't need to do anything of the sort! Let the guard do that. We just need to sneak in and steal the lute. No one the wiser." Alyn smiled as a plan began to unfold. Here was a way he could put his considerable practical-joking skills to good use. The Bard sighed as he stared at Alyn.

"We?"

"This is the most interesting thing to happen to me in a long time, I'm going to go and steal that lute, with or without you. But it be a lot safer if you came along…"

"You've got a plan don't you?"

"Yes."

"And no matter what I say, you're determined to interfere in my private business?"

"It's not like I'm in any hurry to get home." Alyn grumbled. Once more Bard Thomas sighed.

"I can't believe I'm going to even listen to this young noble. Gods, I must be getting senile" He said, addressing it to his cooling mug of cider. Alyn grinned.

"Which is exactly why you need me."

"What's your suggestion?"

Alyn's grin became wider.

…..

And so, for the second time that week, Alyn dressed up in his sneaking outfit, and there was no Father to catch him, or stupid brother to get him in trouble. No, there was only the very real possibility that he could be killed or seriously hurt, if not by these bandits, then by his guards, whom he had, with much effort, wrangled into helping. But, that was life for you, and he really had no time for second thoughts.

They had waited till the snowstorm let up, it took a while to gather all the necessary supplies, then Bard Thomas had led them towards where he thought their encampment was, riding double on Alyn's horse.

His plan was simple really, and he knew it would probably fall apart when it came into play, but still, he was rather proud of it.

His guards would 'surround' the camp, making much noise to make it seem as if it was a full patrol, then they would come into sight, causing panic, and in that panic, Alyn would sneak into the tent where they seemed to keep their meager gains and take the lute. Before that, he and the Bard would be putting the bandits on edge, Alyn would surprise those who went to relieve themselves, in his sneaking outfit, he really looked quite menacing, and the Bard would use his Bardic powers or whatever to put them even more on edge. He wasn't clear on that part, but the Bard told him to trust him, and so Alyn did. He really couldn't do anything else. This should be easy. The bandits were miserable and half-frozen, and their camp was mired in fresh snowfall.

It was a young man he was sneaking up on, the shadow of a beard only made him look younger, only a few years older than Alyn, and Alyn felt a twinge of remorse, but not for long. He waited till the man was done his business, than dropped out of the tree, dangling from his knees which were hooked around a branch and shouting maniacally. But not too loudly. The man looked up in surprise and took a step back from the tree. His hand went to a worn sword that hung awkwardly off his belt, but Alyn had already disappeared. Climbing higher into the tree was not easy considering it was full winter and the branches were icy. The man swallowed and went back to camp, accompanied by Alyn's best evil laugh.

Truth be told, Alyn was surprised they were scaring so easily. He supposed it was because of the Bard.

He thought of all the things that could go wrong.

How stupid he was being.

And he laughed.

He then heard the shouts of his not-to-eager guards and knew it was time to move.

Running to the edge of the camp, he was satisfied to see all the bandits gathering on the edge of the camp where his guards were fake charging. The Bard joined him, slipping so silently through the snow that he managed to startle him.

"Ready?" Whispered Bard Thomas. Who was evidently accompanying Alyn.

"As I'll ever be."

The two ran into the camp, pausing between raggedy tents, and they came to the one holding the store. The Bard cut a slit in the back of the tent with a very sharp looking knife. And Alyn was reminded why he didn't like weapons. Time was running out as the bandits rushed to arm themselves. The tent was cramped and filled with obviously stolen oddments. They sorted through stolen tack, empty bags, some sacs and crates of food. No wonder these bandits were desperate enough to waylay a Bard. Thought Alyn, they had hardly any food!

"Yes!" Cried Bard Thomas. Alyn looked up to see the bard eagerly opening a battered lute case. He pulled out a much-loved lute and gave it a hug. The Bard tried a chord, and even music-deaf Alyn grimaced, it was horribly out of tune. The Bard looked like he wanted to tune it them and there. As if an out of tune lute physically pained him. Maybe it did.

"Hurry! We don't know when they'll get back!" Alyn chivied. The Bard looked up. He nodded, with a wide grin on his face. He put it back in the case and they left through the slit in the back of the tent. But then Alyn got a nasty surprise. A ring of very angry bandits had surrounded them! Alyn looked wildly around. His guards were busy fighting their own battle. And here they were, defenseless.

"Thought you could steal from us eh?" Said the leader, judging from the fact that he was the best armed of all of them.

"It's not stealing it's reclaiming." Alyn protested.

"I'm recovering what you stole from me." Said the Bard angrily, something in his voice caused the bandits to step back. Would the Bard's Bardic gift be enough to get them out? As if he was reading Alyn's mind, the Bard looked at him and shook his head. Great, the lute was useless and the Bard didn't have enough power or something. Alyn believed in taking responsibility for his actions, but not if it got him killed. The bandits seemed to have recovered and once more they advanced on the duo.

"We're dead meat." Announced Alyn soberly. Stupid, stupid Alyn. Thinking he was so clever! Thinking he could orchestrate a raid on a bandit encampment instead of leaving it to trained professionals. The Bard drew his knife and looked ready to fight it out, but then something happened. Something entirely unlooked for. Something Alyn would never have imagined would happen to him.

A big white Companion was making his way towards them. Kicking the bandits who didn't get out of the way fast enough, who were running in terror from the big, white horse. The Companion approached the ring of bandits and snorted in anger. They broke formation and ran. In the distance, Alyn could see mean and women in guard blue surrounding and herding up the bandits. But Alyn hardly payed attention to these things, he was busy falling into eyes of the purest blue.

 _: I chose you Alyn. Even though you're a foolish and impetuous troublemaker. My name is Xac._

 _: Um, thank you._ Alyn answered instinctively. Here was someone who shared his sense of humor.

 _: Now get on my back you idiot, you have a lot of explaining to do._

 _: As always._ Alyn responded ruefully.

 _: And you might want to rub some of that soot off your face before you talk to the Guard captain. It makes you look mighty suspicions. What possessed you to go running off into a bandit's encampment to recover the lute of a stranger?_ Continued Xac.

 _: It seemed like the right thing to do. And I was bored._ Alyn added, not wanting to lie to Xac.

Inside Alyn's head, Xac started laughing. And he couldn't help it, Alyn started to laugh as well. Not minding the fact that a ring of people had gathered around him, starting quizzically at the latest addition to the ranks of Valdemar's Heralds.


End file.
